When it comes to camping, everyone has different needs. If you have a light tow vehicle like we do, you may be limited with the amount of gear you can haul. A Teardrop camper might just be what you need to start making family camping memories!

Dating back to the 1950’s, the term “teardrop camper” comes from the style and design of the camper itself. If you take a side look, it sorta looks like a tear drop. In the 50’s there was a huge amount of emphasis placed on DIY projects. Popular Mechanics actually published a set of plans on how an every day guy could actually build one themselves in their garage, then go cross county on an adventure.

In addition to the styling, a signature feature of a teardrop camper is the back hatch. The back end usually features a small kitchen with any number of various amenities. If you plan on building one of these yourself, you can plan exactly what you want. For example, my family isn’t planning on any real “off grid” camping, so there isn’t a need to have a water heater, storage tanks, and the like, so I could ave some cash by leaving them out of the design. Usually inside you’ll find just enough room for a mattress and a place to store your gear. You generally wouldn’t find a full blown kitchen, bathroom, or even a table in a teardrop camper, but instead the design is usually minimalistic.

There are plenty of companies that actually sell plans on how to make your own, and you can save quite a bit of cash by doing so. In addition to the accomplishment of camping in something you actually built, you can control the weight, and the functionality of your teardrop camper. If you’re looking to just buy one, there are quite a few commercial outfits that still make them. You can usually custom order them, but if you get all the bells and whistles, you will quickly approach the cost of a pop up or even a tow behind camper so be sure you check out all your options before purchasing.

While the savings is a positive, one of the negative aspects of a teardrop camper is that they generally are smaller, and if you have a large family, this may not be the right choice for you. My idea was to use a teardrop as a bit of a “base camp” and have a small tent to setup in addition to the camper. The teardrop camper itself can be used to store the extra camping gear and it would help with our expanding family.

There are tons of resources available online for teardrop campers, but the below links could get you started if you’re considering this unique camping experience.